Pools of Magical Blood
by Mistress of Craziness
Summary: On hiatus. The students at Hogwarts are acting different, and the only clue is a set of teeth marks on their neck. Someone is a vampire, and Buffy & Co. are called to the job. Enemies become friends. Friends become enemies. And no one can be trusted...


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but Penelope.

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_Prologue_

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Penelope Brass walked slowly through the corridors, no noise could be heard except for the soft rustling of her feet. The tip of her wand was lit, allowing her the ability to actually see, but also creating disfigured shadows on the walls. She shuttered at her eerie surroundings. Being a Hufflepuff prefect seemed simply spectacular a few weeks prior, but that was before she had to do a midnight patrol; walking through the castle at night alone really wasn't her cup of tea.

Her light, hazel-eyes darted nervously around the area, searching for any sign of movement. She had been walking around aimlessly for a little under an hour, and she still had yet to find anyone out after curfew. She did, however, happen to stumble across four spiders, a painting of a frightening man that screamed at her when her light hit him, and that dreadful cat, Mrs. Norris.

"When can I be done with this?" she said fearfully, pointing her wand at a suit of lifeless armor as she side-stepped past it. "I just want to go... to..."

Her sentence faltered, and she stopped dead in her tracks. The faint sound of someone running in the distance played against her ears. She listened carefully, her body growing tense. But just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, and all she could hear was her own raspy breathing.

"What was that...?" she questioned quietly. "Did I just hear...? Hm... my mind must be playing tricks- No, wait. There it is again."

Her eyes began to scan the direction it was coming from. Unfortunately, her light could only do so much, and she was only able to see a few feet in front of her. Realizing that standing motionless wasn't going to do much help either, she reluctantly began to head towards the source.

"Why am I so scared?" she whispered, noticing her shaking hands. "It's probably just some student. Then again, they do seem quite frantic for someone who just decided to go on a midnight stroll. Still, there is nothing to be afraid of; I've walked through these halls hundreds of times, and the only difference now is that it's dark. I just need to keep my co-AH!" She jumped at the sight of a tiny spider hanging from the ceiling, and bolted as fast as she could away from it.

After forcing herself to calm down, she continued to walk at a rather slow pace for a good five minutes, the running she could hear never seeming to get any closer. She still had yet to see any sign of anyone, and was on the verge of giving up and letting someone else deal with it, when she turned yet another corner, and her eyes landed on someone's silhouette dashing down the hall and out of sight. The figure had come and gone so fast that Penelope didn't have enough time to register who it was, or even distinguish them between male or female.

Knowing that she was never going to be able to catch up to them with the sluggish speed she was going at, she mustered up as much courage as she had - which wasn't much, mind you - and began to dash after them.

"Hey, you! Stop!" she yelled, catching a quick glimpse of them before they took a sudden left turn. Her energy began to decrease at an alarming rate, and she was finding it difficult to breathe, but she kept going; she wasn't going to mess up her first night of patrolling.

Turning left as well, Penelope let out a gasp of shock as she found an unknown person standing right in her path. Not able to slow herself down in time, Penelope collided with them, and found herself landing against the cold ground, hard. She snapped her eyes shut out of reflex, her back becoming agonizingly painful.

"Penelope? Penelope, are you alright?" cried a startled voice from above her. Penelope opened her eyes, recognizing the voice, and found herself face-to-face with a concerned Hermione Granger. Relief washed over her.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Penelope assured her, standing up with a groan. She began to brush off some dust that was clinging to her robes. Hermione handed Penelope her wand that she had unknowingly dropped. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Hermione.

Penelope began to wonder what on earth Hermione was doing down there, when her mind began to wander back to why she was even down there to begin with. It was puzzling how Hermione seemed oblivious to the fact that someone had just been running down the hallway she was coming from. But it was even more puzzling that Penelope could no longer hear said running. It didn't take long for her to put two-and-two together, however, and she could feel her face slightly heat up.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hermione," mumbled Penelope.

Hermione's eyebrows knitted together. "For what?"

"For chasing you," she exclaimed. "I couldn't tell who it was, and I thought it was a student out of bed. Why were you running, though?"

Hermione shook her head slightly. "I wasn't running," she told the blonde, frowning. Penelope arched an eyebrow.

"You weren't?" Hermione shook her head a little more roughly. "Well... did you see anyone running this way?" Another shake of her head. Penelope stood there, confused. How could Hermione have missed them - she had just come from the hallway they had run down. Was it possible for her to have not seen them? But how? Was Penelope's minds just playing tricks on her? No, that couldn't be it; sure, she was bit tired, but not tired enough to start hallucinating. Not to mention she was able to hear them perfectly. Suddenly, another thought came to the Hufflepuff's mind. "You must have heard someone running, right?"

"Yeah, that I did," Hermione answered, and Penelope sighed in relief - atleast she knew she wasn't going insane. She smiled, just as Hermione added, "but I figured it was you." Penelope's grin vanished. "Are you saying you saw someone come down this way?"

"I thought I..." Penelope paused, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Nevermind. I'm just a little tired, that's all. Must of been my imagination."

Hermione nodded her head. "That is understandable - it is your first night patrolling. You should head to bed, though - it's getting late. I'm thinking of going myself soon as well. I've been patrolling for almost two hours now, and I can hardly see straight. Ron and I left together, but we split up; I wouldn't be surprised if he went straight back to the common room five minutes later."

Penelope chuckled as Hermione's face fell, knowing that she was most likely correct. Out of all the prefects Penelope had properly met so far, Hermione was her favorite. She was the only perfect who didn't use her authority to her advantage, and she wasn't all mean and stuck-up like most of the others, thinking they were better then everyone else. She was also quite patient whenever Penelope had a question, and she was really nice. Sure, at times she could be a bit bossy, and her know-it-all attitude got old rather quickly, but Penelope still really enjoyed talking to her.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your common room?" Hermione questioned.

"No, that's alright," said Penelope. "I don't want to be a bother."

"It's no bother."

"No, really, you should go to bed. I can manage alone." Penelope inwardly snorted to herself. 'Yeah, just like you can handle an itty bitty spider on your own. Who are you trying to kid?'

"Well, okay. If you're sure," said Hermione, a little hesitantly. "Good-night." She began to go down the way Penelope had just come from, when the blonde called out for her. Hermione stopped, and turned around. "Yes?"

"Is it possible they might have gone down a different corridor down that hallway?" she wondered aloud.

Hermione's head jerked slightly. "Impossible - you can only go one-way, and it's a dead-end when you finally get through it." Penelope gazed down the hallway as if some sort of trance. Hermione took a step towards her, her voice full of concern. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Penelope said in a rush, turning back towards the bushy-haired girl. She forced a small smile. "Just go to bed, Hermione. Good-night."

"Good-night," Hermione mimicked, giving Penelope an uneasy look. She slowly twirled around and began to walk away, Penelope watching the glow of Hermione's wand tip become smaller and smaller. Hermione stopped at the very end of it, and gave the Hufflepuff one last worried look. Penelope quietly turned down the right corridor. Instead of continuing like she wanted the Gryffindor to think, she leaned against the wall, listening to Hermione's footsteps fade in the distance. When Penelope was certain she was really gone, she walked back over to the other hallway and began to examine it. There was an abrupt right turn only a few feet in to it, and it looked much darker then other corridors. She wondered what Hermione was even doing down there to begin with.

Gulping with uncertainty, Penelope began to creep her way forward.

'What are you doing?' screamed the voice in her head. 'Go to bed! You heard Hermione - no one is down there!'

"I just need to be sure," said Penelope quietly, moving her wand back and forth so she could see every inch of the hallway. Her body was trembling with fear, but she ignored this, and continued to venture through the many twists and turns the hallway had until she reached the very end of it. A brick wall stood in her way, and she placed the palm of her hand against it, wondering if it might be a secret passage.

'There? Satisfied? Now go!' the voice ordered.

"But... how?" Penelope whined, her hand now moving all around the walls. "I could have sworn I saw someone come this way. But where did they go without being seen? I _know_ someone ran down-"

She froze, a look of pure horror struck across her face. Her fingers had brushed against some sort of thick liquid, and when she allowed the light to hit it, she saw that it was a deep crimson color. She moved her fingers closer to her face so she could inspect it better, the familiar, disgusting smell hitting her nostrils. Her breathing began to quicken at the realization.

"B-B-Blood...?" she stuttered. She felt a little light-headed, and began to wobble in place. However, something moving about behind her forced her to maintain her balance, and her body to grow stiff. The unsettling presence of someone else made her mind go fuzzy, and she began to tremble. Their gravelly breathing hit the nape of her neck, and the smell of it was just as unpleasant as the substance that clung to her fingers. She stood completely still - she was trapped, her only form of escape blocked. Not able to act rationally, she did the first thing she could think of: Before she had enough time to stop herself, Penelope took in a sharp breath, gripped her wand even tighter, and in one swift motion, turned to point it at-

"Nothing?" she cried, her wand gliding about in a panic frenzy. Tears began to leak from underneath her eyelids, and roll down her cheeks. "What's happening to me? Am I going crazy? This was a bad idea! I need to get-"

Two hands suddenly wrapped themselves around her, one holding on to her waist, the other muffling her screams. Her wand slipped from her now sweaty palms, and hit the ground with a pathetic clatter, darkness now engulfing them. She began to struggle against the persons strong hold, trying to retrieve it. The terrible breathing from before was now right against her ear, and she could hear whoever it was laughing viciously.

"Do not fight against me - you won't win," it spoke. Penelope's eyes widened - that voice! She knew that voice!

But before she was able to put together a proper thought, her mind began to race, and all she could think about was the now horrible pain as what felt like two gigantic pins piercing against her neck. She could feel lips lightly sucking against her flesh, and liquid drip from her neck and down to her collarbone. Tears were now streaming from her eyes, and she whimpered uselessly in to their palm.

After about half-a-minute, Penelope could no longer take it, and the world around her went black.

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**A/N: **If you have seen this story before, do not be alarmed - I am not copy writing anyone! I was the original author who posted this, and decided to re-do it and put it on this account. The story is much different then the original, as you can plainly see - Emily is now Penelope, Blake (Greg) will not make an appearance until next chapter, and she will not be discovered until next chapter either. I am planning on fixing up the timeline as well, so it is not confusing. I really liked the idea of this story, but never got around to fixing it. I am putting it on this account, and not just re-doing it on my old one, because I am more well-known on this one. Updates for this story will be much more frequent then 'Dramione cliches', so sorry to those who like that story - this is my first serious story, and 'Dramione cliches' is just something I write when I feel like it. But don't worry, I am not abandoning it.

Please, review, and tell me what you think. :)


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